11 Billion Went Missing!

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Photo Courtesy: NOAA Fisheries

Bering Sea snow crab

Riley Mason, Staff Writer

Earlier this month, Alaska announced that they had canceled the entire snow crab harvest for the year. The reason? Nearly 11 billion Alaskan Snow Crabs had suddenly disappeared from the Bering Sea. It is estimated that nine out of ten crabs have died out between 2018 to 2021. Researchers suspect warming waters led to multiple challenges, causing the population to tumble from 11.7 billion in 2018 to 1.9 billion in 2022. Sea ice melt and warming waters have diminished the crabs’ cold-water habitat, triggering starvation, predation, and potentially increasing disease. This, coincidentally, means that nearly 88 billion crab legs have also gone missing. However, make sure to be cautious, and make sure you don’t eat any dead crabs you might find. Researchers have found that you  should not cook or eat a dead crab. Once a crab dies, bacteria takes the opportunity to spread and make its meat mushy and flavorless. Not only does it taste terrible, it can make people sick. For the sake of your health, and possibly testosterone, it’s best to avoid eating these dead crabs.